The present invention relates to diagnostic ultrasound methods and systems. In particular, the present invention relates to methods and systems for segmenting three dimensional (3D) ultrasound datasets.
Numerous ultrasound methods and systems exist for use in the medical diagnostics. Various features have been proposed to facilitate patient examination and diagnosis based on ultrasound images of the patient. For example, certain systems offer an image segmentation feature through which a 2D image is analyzed to identify portions of the 2D image that represent object and non-object regions. A local contour may be determined through various techniques, including, but not limited to, measures of texture and gray level changes in the image data. An automatic segmentation algorithm may be used to determine the local contour of the object within an object slice. More recently, techniques have been introduced to obtain ultrasound information for a 3D volume. The ultrasound information is stored as a volumetric data set. Individual images or slices are extracted from the volumetric data set for analysis, such as through segmentation.
Heretofore, ultrasound methods and systems were unable to perform segmentation rapidly upon the volumetric data set.
A need exists for improved methods and systems that are able to segment a volumetric data set.